Most people will have read in last week’s Raglan Chronicle a decision by Waikato District Council to not fund Raglan’s food waste collection service through a targeted rate.
However, over 61% of the 774 people who wrote submissions to the Council said that they valued the food waste service and want collections to continue. We do too, because it’s too important to lose, and with your help and support, Xtreme Zero Waste will continue delivering this service to our community.
The climate emergency is now a reality and the New Zealand Government has set an ambitious goal to make Aotearoa carbon neutral by 2050. Keeping food waste out of landfills reduces production of two potent greenhouse gases, methane and carbon dioxide.
Raglan’s food waste collection is the first dedicated kerbside food waste collection service in New Zealand, so Raglan can be proud to be national leaders in an initiative to address the causes of climate change. Since the kerbside collection started in August 2017, Xtreme and the community has diverted around 380 tonnes of Raglan household’s food waste. This means as a community we’ve collectively helped reduce several hundred tonnes of greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere, equivalent to around 84 cars emissions in carbon dioxide, and we’ve also reduced other emissions by having less waste trucks going to the landfill at Hampton Downs, on the way to Auckland. There are other benefits too – we are creating a locally used resource from our food waste, i.e. compost, and the service and composting operation provides employment to local people.
Xtreme was set up by the community, for the community almost twenty years ago, as a not for profit community enterprise that is passionate about our community’s wellbeing and the environment. Xtreme diverts 78% of Raglan’s waste from landfill, which is one of the highest rates in the country. Our aim is to move forward to a world without waste.
Today we continue to operate as a charitable community enterprise. We rarely make surplus income, and if we do, it is reinvested into projects and equipment to help us do our job better. Xtreme’s key contract is with Waikato District Council to collect kerbside waste and recycling, municipal street bins, and most recently household food waste.
We passionately want to remain a viable community enterprise that supports local people and works hard for the environment. We are now busy looking at various ways in which we can raise funds to keep the food waste project going, and we’ll be sending information about this campaign soon to mailboxes and out on social media.
Thank you to all the people who took the time to make a submission to WDC on the food waste service. Numerous people who submitted offered to donate money and provided lots of great ideas and solutions. We are actively looking at all of these.
If you are in a position to contribute financially to support Raglan’s food waste service, we would be very grateful for your gift and we can provide a charitable tax donation receipt. Our bank account details are Xtreme Zero Waste Inc, Westpac Frankton, account # 03 1563 0039042 000, reference foodwaste.
If you want to support in other ways and have any experience with crowdfunding, fundraising, communications, managing volunteers and have some time to volunteer to this project, we would also love to hear from you. Please contact Rick Thorpe 022 182 1884 rick@xtremezerowaste.org.nz or Cheryl Reynolds 021 711 977 cheryl@xtremezerowaste.org.nz at Xtreme for more information
Remember, please continue to put out your food waste bins and we will continue to collect them.
Xtreme Zero Waste
